Books 17
Music and Musicians in Late Mughal India by Katherine Butler Schofield, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781009047685, £24.99
Based on a vast, virtually unstudied archive of Indian writings alongside visual sources, this book presents the first history of music and musicians in late Mughal India, circa 1748- 1858 and takes the lives of nine musicians as entry points into six prominent types of writing on music in Persian, Brajbhasha, Urdu, and English, moving from Delhi to Lucknow, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and among the British. It shows how a key Mughal cultural field, responded to the political, economic and social upheaval of the transition to British rule, while addressing a central philosophical question: can we ever recapture the ephemeral experience of music once the performance is over? Tese rich, diverse sources shine new light on the wider historical processes of this pivotal transitional period and provide a new history of music, musicians and their audiences during the precise period in which North Indian classical music coalesced in its modern form.
Southeast Asia Revolusi:
Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World by David Van Reybrouck, Bodley Head, ISBN 9781847927040, £30
On a sunny Friday morning in August 1945, a handful of tired people raised a homemade cotton flag and on behalf of 68 million compatriots announced the birth of a new nation: Indonesia. Four million civilians had died during the Japanese wartime occupation that ousted its Dutch colonial regime. Another 200,000 people would lose their lives in the astonishingly brutal conflict that ensued – as the Dutch used savage violence to reassert their control, and as Britain and America became embroiled in pacifying Indonesia’s guerrilla war of resistance: the ‘Revolusi’. It was not until December 1949 that the newly created United Nations finally brought the conflict to an end - and with it, 350 years of colonial rule - setting a precedent that would reshape the world. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and eye-witness testimonies, the author turns this vast and complex story into an utterly gripping narrative that is alive with human detail at every turn. Te book shows Indonesia’s struggle for independence to be one of the defining dramas of the 20th century.
Majapahit:
Intrigue, Betrayal and War in Indonesia’s Greatest Empire
by Herald van der Linde, Monsoon, ISBN 9781915310286, £12.99
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Majapahit kingdom reigned supreme in eastern Java, and its influence stretched far and wide, throughout present-day Indonesia, parts of the Malay peninsula and the island of Tumasek, now Singapore. Majapahit’s army famously repelled Kublai Khan’s invasion, and its formidable navy humbled even the renowned Portuguese mariners. Walk the bustling streets of Majapahit, a melting pot of aristocratic Javanese, shaven-headed Brahmins, hermits in bark cloth, widows dressed in white, and Chinese, Persian, and Arab traders. Discover beautiful temples and imposing palaces, and markets brimming with goods from all over Asia. At the heart of Majapahit’s
story are eccentric kings and queens embroiled in bloody family feuds, and a tipsy court scribe who has the good sense to write down everything he sees. Witness the drama of royal intrigues, murders, revenge and war. Tis is not just the story of an empire’s rise and fall, it is an exploration of a society rich in religious diversity, social tolerance, and artistic achievement, and a society – much like Indonesia today – which must navigate its way in the challenging tapestry of Chinese and Southeast Asian geopolitics.
Mountain at a Centre of the World: Pilgrimage and Pluralism in Sri Lanka by Alexander McKinley, Columbia University Press, ISBN 9780231210614, £23
At the pilgrimage site of Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka, a footprint is embedded atop the mountain summit. Buddhists hold that it was left by the Buddha, Hindus say Lord Siva, and Muslims and Christians identify it with Adam, the first man. Te Sri Lankan state, for its part, often uses the Peak as a prop to convey a harmonious image of religious pluralism, despite increasing Buddhist hegemony. How should the diversity of this place be understood historically and managed practically? Considering the varied heritage of this sacred site, Alexander McKinley develops a new account of pluralism based in political ecology, representing the full array of actors and issues on the mountain. From its diverse people to rare species to deep geology, the Peak exemplifies a planetary pluralism that recognises a multiplicity of beings while accepting competition and disorder. Taking a place-based approach, McKinley casts the mountain as an actor, exploring how its rocks, forests, and waters promote pilgrimage, inspire storytelling, and make ethical demands on human communities. Combining history and ethnography while furnishing original translations of sources from Pali, Sinhala, and Tamil, this multidisciplinary and stylistically innovative book shows how religious traditions share literal common ground in their reverence for the mountain.
Discovering Vietnam’s Ancient Capital edited by Andrew Hardy and Tien Dong Nguyen, National University of Singapore, ISBN 9789813252295, £29
As Vietnam entered the 21st century it began to prepare for the 1000th anniversary of the founding of its capital Tang Long, now Hanoi. In the heart of the city, a rescue excavation was launched on land earmarked for the construction of a new National Assembly building. Archaeologists unearthed thirteen centuries of vestiges of the ancient city of Tang Long, yielding a richer record than anyone had dared to hope for. Construction plans were shelved, excavations widened, and at the city’s millennial celebrations in 2010, UNESCO announced its inscription of the Imperial Citadel of Tang Long on its World Heritage List. Tis archaeological discovery has two narratives. Te first, told here by the archaeologists involved, is the story of the dig, as their trowels brought to light the bricks, tiles, pillars, sculptures and ceramics of countless ancient temples and palaces. Te second is the history of the citadel itself, in its early years as an outpost of the Chinese empire, in its heyday as the Forbidden City of Vietnam’s emperors, and in its downgrading and eventual destruction at the hands of the
Nguyen dynasty and French colonial rulers. Te book relates the questions, findings, and emotions of research team members as the imperial citadel took shape before their eyes. Drawing on the results of their work, it presents a historical narrative of the continuous development of a regional political centre on this site. Bringing together history, urban history, and the story of the interplay of influences from China and Southeast Asia, it also examines its history and the decisions on how to preserve its archaeological remains.
Central Asia/ Silk Roads
Silk Roads
by Sue Brunning, Luk Yu-ping, et al, British Museum, ISBN 9780714124971, £45
Focusing on a defining period between 500 and 1000, this catalogue reimagines the Silk Roads as a web of interlocking networks linking Asia, Africa, and Europe, from Japan to Ireland, from the Arctic to Madagascar. It tells the story of people, objects, and ideas flowing in all directions, through the traces these journeys left behind – including ceramics from Tang China recovered from a shipwreck in the Java Sea, sword-fittings set with Indian garnets buried in England, and a selection of letters and legal texts from a synagogue in Cairo revealing a Jewish community’s links from India to al-Andalus. Woven throughout, encounters with various peoples active on the Silk Roads, from seafarers to Sogdians, Aksumites, and Vikings, reveal the human stories, innovations and transfers of
The King’s Road: Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road by Xin Wen, Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691243191, £20
Te King’s Road offers a new interpretation of the history of the Silk Roads, emphasising its importance as a diplomatic route, rather than a commercial one. Tracing the arduous journeys of diplomatic envoys, Xin Wen presents a rich social history of long-
distance travel that played out in deserts, post stations, palaces, and polo fields. Te book tells the story of the everyday lives of diplomatic travelers on the Silk Roads – what they ate and drank, the gifts they carried, and the animals that accompanied them – and how they navigated a complex web of geographic, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. It also describes the risks and dangers envoys faced along the way – from financial catastrophe to robbery and murder. Using documents unearthed from the famous Dunhuang ‘library cave’ in Western China, the book paints a detailed picture of the intricate network of trans-Eurasian transportation and communication routes that was established between 850 and 1000. By exploring the motivations of the kings who dispatched envoys along the Silk Roads and describing the transformative social and economic effects of their journeys, the book reveals the inner workings of an interstate network distinct from the Sino-centric ‘tributary’ system.
knowledge that emerged, shaping cultures and histories across continents centuries before the formation of today’s globalised world.
Empires of the Steppes: The Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation by Kenneth W Harl, Bloomsbury, ISBN 9781526630414, £14.99
Te barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. Tese tribes produced some of the world’s greatest conquerors: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane, among others. And their deeds still resonate today. Indeed, these nomads built long-lasting empires, facilitated the first global trade of
the Silk Road, and disseminated religions, technology, knowledge, and goods of every description that enriched and changed the lives of so many across Europe, China, and the Middle East. From a single region emerged a great many peoples – the Huns, the Mongols, the Magyars, the Turks, the Xiongnu, the Scythians, and the Goths – all of whom went on to profoundly and irrevocably shape the modern world.
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires by David Chaffetz, WW Norton & Co, ISBN 9781324051466, £25
No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. Te thread starts in prehistory, with a small, shy animal, hunted for food. Over time,
Continued on page 18
NEW TITLES Mandaean
Symbolic Art By Sandra van Rompaey
Mandaean Symbolic Art examines the structure, function, and symbolic associations of the artwork within the major Mandaean religious scrolls.
iv + 358 p., 89 b/w, 125 col. ills, ISBN 978-2-503-59365-4 Sample Pages Available
In Search of Cultural Identities in
Festschrift for Prudence
Oliver Harper
The essays focus on ancient metalwork, Harper’s major expertise, while others on glyptics, ivory, or glass, three of her other interests.
West and Central Asia
Edited by Henry P. Colburn, Betty Hensellek and Judith A. Lerner
444 p., 111 b/w, 171 col. ills, ISBN 978-2-503-60438-1 Sample Pages Available
All orders (incl. UK):
www.brepols.net -
orders@brepols.net Orders North-America:
www.isdistribution.com-
orders@isdistribution.com
ASIAN ART | WINTER 2024
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